Oklahoma Film Critics Circle names award winners for 2023
Midweek update: Winners listed, with some additional commentary
The Oklahoma Film Critics’ Circle announced its award winners for 2023.
The top film for the group, of which I’ve been a member since its inception, was “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the Oklahoma-filmed production from Martin Scorsese.
The full release from OFCC is below. I’ve added a few of my comments in italics.
OKLAHOMA CITY, January 3, 2024—The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle (OFCC) announced its 18th annual slate of award winners, with the Oklahoma-based Killers of the Flower Moon taking the title for Best Film of 2023 among the state’s film critics.
“Killers of the Flower Moon dominated this year’s OFCC awards, with Martin Scorsese’s epic cited in seven of the ten categories it was eligible for. It won the Best Film prize and Best Actress award for Lily Gladstone by significantly wide margins, a sign of the film’s endurance within the state of Oklahoma,” said Jeff Huston, OFCC president.
In a year marked by strikes across the film and television industry, the OFCC recognized a variety of films that brought together audiences and critics alike. In addition to Killers of the Flower Moon, the Top 10 Films of 2023 are The Holdovers, Oppenheimer, Barbie, Past Lives, The Zone of Interest, Poor Things, May December, The Boy and the Heron, and American Fiction.
“This year was marked by bold swings from notable directors like Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, Christopher Nolan, and Hayao Miyazaki and impressive debuts fromfirst-time directors like Celine Song with Past Lives, Cord Jefferson with American Fiction, and Chloe Domont with Fair Play," said Caleb Masters, OFCC vice president.
"Also among this year's great films was Fancy Dance, a feature film directorial debut from Erica Tremblay, set in Oklahoma and made by a largely Oklahoma crew. While the film has yet to be picked up for distribution, we believe the film showcases the exceptional talent making movies in our state.”
The 2023 film calendar spanned budgets, platforms, and genres in a catalog that held something for everyone. Highly anticipated titles like Maestro and The Exorcist: Believer fell to expectations, giving way to a swell of foreign language titles to find a place among the OFCC’s ranking of the year’s best films. With a pop culture phenomenon like Barbenheimer creating a sense of occasion in moviegoing again, casual and avid fans of cinema have reason to find themselves in front of the silver screen again.
Below is the complete list OFCC award winners for 2023:
OFCC 2023 Awards Results
Best Film: Killers of the Flower Moon
Matt: While I ended up going with Oppenheimer after much internal debate, I think it’s only appropriate that the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle awarded this Oklahoma-filmed movie.
Top 10
1. Killers of the Flower Moon
2. The Holdovers
3. Oppenheimer
4. Barbie
5. Past Lives
6. The Zone of Interest
7. Poor Things
8. May December
9. The Boy and the Heron
10. American Fiction
My list tended to be a little more populist, with spots for “Godzilla Minus One” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” Hard to argue too vociferously with the top 5 we ended up with, however.
Best Actor
Winner: Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Runner-Up: Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Giamatti is terrific, but I went with Murphy.
Best Actress
Winner: Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Runner-Up: Emma Stone, Poor Things
These are two of my top three, with Margot Robbie the odd one out as far as making the finals here.
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Runner-Up: Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Flipped, but these were my top 2.
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Runner-Up: Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
I went a whole different direction, with Minami Hamabe from Godzilla Minus One here.
Best Director
Winner: Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Runner-Up: Greta Gerwig, Barbie
Again two of my top three are here.
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: The Holdovers, David Hemingson
Runner-Up: Barbie, Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
Good choices, even though I went with the less-loved Asteroid City.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Killers of the Flower Moon, Eric Roth & Martin Scorsese (based on David
Grann’s book)
Runner-Up: Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan (based on the book “American
Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin)
I picked Oppenheimer again, but I can’t fault the winner in this category.
Best Documentary
Winner: American Symphony
Runner-Up: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
My top two choices made the top two here.
Best Animated Feature
Winner: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Runner-Up: The Boy and the Heron
This lines up exactly with my picks. I can understand arguing for the other way around.
Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: The Zone of Interest (UK/Poland)
Runner-Up: Godzilla Minus One (Japan)
I was hoping for Godzilla; I also threw in a vote for Perfect Days.
Best Cinematography
Winner: Oppenheimer, Hoyte Van Hoytema
Runner-Up: Killers of the Flower Moon, Rodrigo Prieto
These are my top two as well.
Best Score
Winner: Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson
Runner-Up: Oppenheimer, Ludwig Göransson
So, I went with Spider-Man here, but these were my next two picks.
Best Ensemble
Winner: Barbie
Runner-Up: Killers of the Flower Moon
I didn’t vote for Barbie in this category, but I can see how it won, and I’m glad it got some recognition.
Best First Feature
Winner: Past Lives, dir. Celine Song
Runner-Up: American Fiction, dir. Cord Jefferson
“Past Lives” was also my pick.
Best Body of Work
Winner: Actress Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest
Runner-Up: Director Wes Anderson, Asteroid City and four Roald Dahl shorts
I voted Wes Anderson here.
Most Disappointing Film
Winner: Maestro
Runner-Up: The Exorcist: Believer
I have a hard time with this category in general! These weren’t my picks, but I’m not sure I always interpret the category the same way. I get the issues with Maestro, and I understand why that was the pick.
Special Citation
for Achievement in Oklahoma Independent Filmmaking
Fancy Dance, dir. Erica Tremblay
Terrific film that you should check out if you have the opportunity!
#movies #filmtwitter #awardseason #okiefilm
About OFCC:
A 501(c)7 organization founded in 2006, the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle (OFCC) is composed of Oklahoma-based professional film journalists, academics, and critics working in broadcast, print, and digital media. Media outlets include The Oklahoman, Oklahoma Gazette, Tulsa World, and Edmond Life & Leisure. Other outlets include television stations KOKH FOX 25 and News 9, radio stations KJYO/Clear Channel and Cumulus Media, and the websites flickattack.com, thewrap.com, thecinematropolis.com, icantunseethatmovie.com, nofilmschool.com, goodtrashmedia.com and screenrant.com.
The full list of voting members can be found here: http://www.oklahomafilmcritics.com.
Matthew Price, matthew@matthewLprice.com, has written about the comics industry for more than two decades — and reviewed films for even longer! He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.